Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Shins! @ Red Rocks!
They had to start over on their very first song. Have a look:

James Mercer has shuffled the lineup of The Shins over the years, so much so that they look and sound like a different band from the one from the days of "Chutes Too Narrow" and "Oh, Inverted World." That made it more fun to listen to Blind Pilot and The Head and the Heart than The Shins last night. Still, "New Slang" sounded fantastic, with the audience cooing along on the chorus between the monoliths of Red Rocks creating a warm cocoon of sound. They mixed old and new. They played a cover of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," and former members Neal Langford and Marty Crandall came on stage to play during one encore. It was a beautiful spring night.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

A night before opening for Civil Wars, Milo Greene visited the Larimer Lounge on Tuesday to play their first-ever show in Denver.

The band's album won't be available til July, but they brought along 2-song EPs, posters and T-shirts to sell. The beauty of Milo Greene is in the (mostly) acoustic instruments, banjo picking, and tight harmonies.

The small room was a great place to see these multi-instrumentalists up close and hear everything with clarity.

In a rare appearance, Sweet Tooth Meat Tooth (with Hayley from Snake Rattle Rattle Snake and others) was the moody mellow opener. (We hear they're playing again July 8 at the Museum of Contemporary Art)

Sweet Tooth Meat Tooth, photo by Thomas Peipert

Then Milo Greene came on, with these wacky vertical plastic light sticks with little bulbs strung through them positioned around the stage like trees. It was a full room back by the stage, and the crowd sang along to songs like "1957" and "Don't You Give Up on Me." The quintet lent their four-part harmonies to a cover of Sufjan Stevens' "Chicago." They've performed the Sufjan cover live before, but the Denver version featured Robbie with the most death-metal shaking of jingle bells on a Sufjan song ever. Here's video of "Silent Way."

They also did a Wilco cover ("A Shot in the Arm") with Marlana on lead
vocals. At the end, the band's merch guy emerged from the back room
where he'd been accidentally locked for the whole show. Good times! The
band members stuck around to talk with fans, drink with fans, sign stuff
for fans and generally be interesting people.

And Milo Greene will be back in Denver Aug. 10 to play at the Hi-Dive! For cheaps! $10/$12

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Leftover Salmon's first recorded studio album in 8 years comes out Tuesday. Last weekend the band had a block party on Santa Fe between 7th and 8th in Denver to celebrate.

People filled the streets for beers, snacks from food trucks and 3++ hours of Leftover Salmon playing live music, and amazingly, the rain held off. Scramble Campbell painted a canvas live on stage in the tradition of Denny Dent (we miss Denny Dent!)

photo by C

Afterward, the band signed autographs and mingled with fans at Space Gallery to help raise money for Conscious Alliance, with Gipsy Moon providing live entertainment (Vince Herman's son plays mandolin in Gipsy Moon).

About Me

We're a bunch of hard scrabblers and stragglers doing the diy thing to tell you stories that haven't been told...or at least not in our way. Pick up your copy of Delicatessen magazine in Denver and other random locales, just about every season. For music, news, entertainment and giggles.